This invention relates to a tilting terminal clamp and, more particularly to a clamp for securing wires within terminal body pockets such as are widely used in the electrical and electronic industries.
In the past, tiltability has been provided by a conical ramp either on the underside of the screw head or the top of the clamping plate. Exemplary of the former is Pat. No. 4,097,112 and of the latter is U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,296. In either construction, the conical ramp provides an advantageous bearing when the clamping plate is tilted to accommodate a wire as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,112.
Notwithstanding the large amount of work that has gone into tilting terminal clamps, there has persisted for many years the problem of inadvertent detachment of the shank-providing screw from the terminal during shipment where the assembly necessarily encounters bumps, jerks, and other disassembling forces. Even further, the prior art clamps have been inadequate for clamping small diameter wires because the very size of annular ring needed to keep the plate in place on the screw shank has restricted the degree to which the plate can apply clamping action. Thus, the prior art clamps have been inadequate both prior to and during use.
The instant invention solves this problem in a novel way by placing the frusto conical ramp on the clamping plate but at the same time shaping the ramp to receive the confining annular ring within the concave undersurface of the plate. This brings about not only the ramp function provided by the upper surface of the clamping plate but brings about the unexpected advantage of being able to clamp the clamping plate firmly to the terminal within the pocket during shipment, thereby avoiding the undesirable detachment and possible loss of the tilting terminal clamp and further makes possible the clamping of small diameter wires during use.